Indirect Effects of COVID-19 in Africa

Team

Jean-Louis ARCAND
President of the Global Development Network (GDN),
FERDI Senior Fellow,
Co-Director of the FERDI Chair in Impact Investing.
Vianney DEQUIEDT
Scientific Director, FERDI
Professor of Economics at the School of Economics, CERDI, Université Clermont Auvergne,
Head of Training at the Institute for Advanced Studies in Sustainable Development (IHEDD–FERDI)
Scientific and Technical Director, Labex IDGM+
Sosso FEINDOUNO
Research Officer, FERDI
Michel GARENNE
Researcher, Institut Pasteur,
Honorary Professor at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg,
FERDI Senior Fellow,
Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD), UMI Résiliences
Patrick GUILLAUMONT
President, FERDI
Marlène GUILLON
Lecturer, University of Montpellier
Jacky MATHONNAT
Emeritus Professor at the School of Economics - CERDI - Université Clermont Auvergne,
FERDI Senior Fellow,
Head of Training at the Institute for Advanced Studies in Sustainable Development (IHEDD-FERDI),
Head of FERDI's Health Program

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Press review

As soon as the pandemic broke out, researchers affiliated with FERDI alerted Northern countries to the dramatic consequences of the global economic crisis on African countries in terms of health and mortality. They also warned of the inequalities in access to vaccines and treatments.

In 2022 and 2023, special attention was given to the indirect effects of COVID-19 on mortality in Africa and to the impact of the pandemic on the efficiency of district hospitals in two countries: Burkina Faso and Niger.

FERDI contributed to a program led by the French Development Agency (AFD) on the impact of COVID-19 on health systems and the efficiency of healthcare structures in Africa. The aim of the program was to improve responses to current and future health shocks. Within this framework, FERDI conducted two studies: one on the indirect effects of COVID-19 on mortality in Africa, and the other on the pandemic’s impact on the efficiency of district hospitals in Burkina Faso and Niger. These studies were carried out in collaboration with teams appointed by the respective Ministries of Health in each country.

The results were published in three articles co-authored with Jacky Mathonnat, and in a separate article by Sosso Feindouno. The latter was published by AFD and subsequently reproduced in book form by FERDI.

Objectives

↪ To measure the indirect impact of COVID-19 on mortality in Africa

↪ To assess the impact of the pandemic on the efficiency of district hospitals

2024-2025 Ouputs

↪ Jean-Louis Arcand, Sosso Feindouno, and Patrick Guillaumont have published an article in Social Science & Medicine on the transfer of COVID-19-related mortality from Northern to Southern countries. This article builds on a study conducted with a grant from the French National Research Agency (ANR) under the "Covid-19 Research Action" call for proposals. The article explores how containment policies in Northern countries, aimed at curbing the spread of the virus and saving lives, inadvertently shifted the mortality burden to the Global South, particularly to fragile states, most of which are in Sub-Saharan Africa.

↪ Publication of Sosso Feindouno's book: La mortalité due au Covid-19 en Afrique : prédominance des effets indirects, Ferdi, 116 p, 2024.